Oregon Measure Nos. 300-301, Repeal of Provision Allowing Foreign-Born White Male Noncitizens to Vote Amendment (1914)

Oregon Measure Nos. 300-301
Election date November 3, 1914
Topic Citizenship voting requirements
Status Approved
Type Legislatively referred constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature

Oregon Measure Nos. 300-301 was on the ballot as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment in Oregon on November 3, 1914. It was approved.

A "yes" vote supported amending Article II of the Oregon Constitution, related to voting and suffrage, to: repeal language that allowed foreign-born white men to vote if they had lived in the U.S. for one year, resided in Oregon for six months, and declared their intent to become a U.S. citizen, and replace the language stating that white male citizens were entitled to vote with language stating that citizens, without reference to race or gender, were entitled to vote.

A "no" vote opposed amending Article II of the Oregon Constitution, related to voting and suffrage, to: repeal language that allowed foreign-born white men to vote if they had lived in the U.S. for one year, resided in Oregon for six months, and declared their intent to become a U.S. citizen, and replace the language stating that white male citizens were entitled to vote with language stating that citizens, without reference to race or gender, were entitled to vote.

Election results

Oregon Measure Nos. 300-301
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		164,879	80.54%
No		39,847	19.46%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Measure Nos. 300-301 was as follows:

“

Referred to the People by the Legislative Assembly FOR AN AMENDMENT of Section 2 of Article II of the Constitution of Oregon, so as to require voters to be citizens of the United States, in all elections, unless otherwise provided for in the Constitution. --- Vote YES or NO.

”

Full Text

The full text of this measure is available here.

Constitutional changes

See also: Article II, Oregon Constitution

The ballot measure amended Section 2 of Article II of the Oregon Constitution. The following underlined text was added and struck-through text was deleted:

In all elections not otherwise provided for by this Constitution, every white male citizen of the United States, of the age of twenty-one 21 years and upwards, who shall have resided in the State during the six months immediately preceding such election; and every white male of foreign birth of the age of twenty-one years and upwards who shall have resided in the United States one year, and shall have resided in this State during the six months immediately preceding such election, and shall have declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States one year preceding such election, conformably to the laws of the United States on the subject of naturalization, shall be entitled to vote at all elections authorized by law.

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Oregon Constitution

A simple majority vote is required during one legislative session for the Oregon State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 31 votes in the Oregon House of Representatives and 16 votes in the Oregon State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

See also

1914 Measures

• 1914 Measures
• Citizenship voting requirements on the ballot
• 1914 legislative sessions

Oregon

• Oregon ballot measures
• Oregon ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Oregon Voter Guide (1914)